Thoughts On Chicago

Hey all! Let's see...what to blog about...

Well, I got a job making coffee for Starbucks. It's alright, I s'pose. I've been doing all the training stuff they have you do. It's a pretty laid-back location, the manager seems cool, all the other people who work there are pretty alright. Overall I'm liking it so far. Today I was doing all this training stuff that involved me making a bunch of drinks. Then, once they were made, I felt like I needed to drink them so they wouldn't go to waste. I drank way too much espresso today.

I've interviewed for a couple theatre jobs, mostly teaching stuff. I'm going to another one tomorrow. Nothing yet, but I'm fairly confident one of them will hit before too long.

The thing is, though, the more time goes by the more strongly I feel that all I really want to do is make movies. I've got a cool idea, a nice-looking apartment, and a fair number of willing actors at my disposal, and my ever-faithful Darla by my side. It won't be too long (hopefully) before I manage to actually shoot something and put it on-line for all of you to see and marvel at.

In related news, I discovered a few Final Cut tricks that will help me deal with all the lighting problems the Trash Beast footage from the end of Garbage Day has. So, you know, still workin' on that.

I definitely feel like the road trip has ended. I miss it. I miss being totally rootless and just driving all over the place. Whenever I think of my AK-CA drive or my CA-IL drive, I get a little sad and wish I could just stay on the road forever, driving all over the place and stopping and checking stuff out whenever I felt like it.

But, I gotta be somewhere, and I suppose Chicago's nice. There's a ton of parks, interesting architecture, lots of museums and other culture-y stuff, lots of theatre, all that good stuff. Lots of amazing food too.

I miss Los Angeles. Even though it's currently on fire, so smoggy they're advising people not to exercise outdoors, and in a state that's so poor it's holding a garage sale. Maybe I'm crazy. Chicago's just not as exciting. It does make a bunch more sense, though.

I'm A Spoiled Brat

Hey everyone! A lot of people have been bugging me for not updating this thing more frequently. I originally planned to update it every Sunday...FAIL!!!

Anyway, now I'm in Chicago. I've been staying with my friends Yosh and Mira, looking for work, etc. I've begun to realize that working for Pier One for so long has completely spoiled me. I've gotten used to being my own boss, setting my own hours, and basically being in charge of everything. Also, I've had complete creative freedom; if I wanted to do a show, I would just announce that I was doing it and it was that simple.

I never thought I was going to get that much freedom elsewhere, but I also never realized how spoiled I was. Now that I've started looking for jobs and stuff, I find that anytime I find a job ad where I'll have to have a boss or get approval for things, my reaction is "ew, I'm better than that." Ridiculous, I know. I've been trying to get it under control.

Anyway, things are pretty good here in Chicago. It's way cheaper than LA, and I think I'm getting pretty close to having a job. I even have a few theatre-related interviews coming up soon. So I'll keep you guys posted.

Well, this one's kind of short and crappy, but at least I updated the blog!!!

The Adventure Continues!!!

Hey all! Since my last post, I got to see a lot of you when I visited Homer! That was awesome, thanks so much to everyone who came out and saw me. I was thrilled to see that all the YT kids are basically taking over Pier One. Taneeka's got a great show cooking, and it sounds like Skills Camp was awesome. Marc's been directing his face off, and casting all kinds of YT people. Old-skool YT alum Nathan Landers did "That Darn Plot." Also, YT people are inflitrating adult shows, like "The Importance of Being Ernest". Way to be, Homer kids! Also, thanks so much for coming out and seeing me. Can't wait for my next visit!

So as I write this, I'm sitting in my buddy Cory's apartment (he's out of town with his wife) while my buddy Rudy plays "Call of Duty: World at War" on my X-box. Tomorrow, I'm leaving LA and beginning my 5-6 day drive to Chicago. I can't wait! The drive down here from Alaska was some of the most fun I've had in a long time (I'll write a blog about it one of these days), and continuing the adventure is the funnest thing I could think of doing right now. I'll be driving through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, and Ohio on my way to Illinois. Either that or I'll go through Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, and Ohio. Haven't quite made up my mind yet.

So why am I leaving LA? Well, it's really expensive to live here, for starters. Also, since there's a recession on, it's really hard to find work everywhere, and California's the worst. The state is collapsing, basically. They've been giving IOUs to contractors, like construction companies and stuff, because they don't have enough to pay them. Just recently, the banks said they would no longer honor these IOUs from the state of California. So basically, the banks are saying that they can't trust California to pay off it's debts. The state of California is basically a deadbeat. Also, California isn't paying its residents their tax refunds. I better leave town before the state reverts to tribal warfare and cannibalism!

That's only part of it, though. The real problem with LA has more to do with the way the industry is set up: you break your back trying to get a crappy industry job, then eventually you do (maybe) and then you try to work your way up to a cool industry job, and if you're lucky you eventually get to do something creative. All the while, there are thousands of people trying to do the same thing, most of whom have better resumes than me. I got better prospects in Chicago.

So why Chicago? Well, my buddy Yosh is there, and he claims that there are lots of opportunities there in Youth Theatre. In fact, he told me that Youth Theatre is a growth industry right now, and there's a lot more demand than there is supply. Since I have a great resume in youth theatre, I'm going to go give that a try, and also see what else is going on. A day or two after I get to Chicago, me and Yosh are going to drive to Iowa, and I'm going to get to be in a zombie movie!

It's called Cadaver Christmas. If you click on that link, you can see a picture of my buddy Yosh on the main page there. He's the cop who looks all freaked out. They're going to shoot some big zombie battle or something, and I'm going to be a zombie. Apparently Yosh is going to blow my chest open with a shotgun, so that should be fun!

Stay tuned for further developments!

The Great Catch-Up Pt. 1: DEATH PARK!!!

Hey all! A lot of you have been asking me what the deal is with my blog, and why I haven't updated it in a while. The only answer I can offer is this. <---(See how the word is a different color? That means you can click on it). So I've initiated the GREAT CATCH-UP 2009. Over the next few days, I'll post a series of updates that will fill you in on all the exciting things I've done in the month of June. This list includes; -Looking for apartments -Participating in a wedding -Visiting Yosemite National Park -Visiting Seattle, WA -Intense reflection on the state of my life -Going to an insane amount of movies -Rethinking my current plans So, onward and upward! Today I'm going to talk about Yosemite National Park, where I went for my friend Cory's wedding. It's a beautiful place, but its beauty hides a deadly secret. Before I get to that, though...WEDDING PIX!!!
Here's the Ceremony. I was a groomsman.




Here's a better angle on the groomsmen. The handsome chappie casting his eyes skyward in the foreground is my friend Cory, the groom. It should be fairly obvious who the bride is. The girl in pink is talking about love or something, I don't know, I was thinking about what we were going to have for dinner.


Here's the best picture of me ever taken. Still thinking about dinner.

The position of groomsman is an important and time-honored role in one of the most revered rites of passage observed in our society. A groomsman must support the groom, participate in organizing the wedding, and stand as witness during the ceremony. The duties of the groomsman are diverse and numerous, and echo with the history of the tradition. I was honored beyond my ability to express myself that my friend Cory chose me to take part in this beautiful milestone in his life. As you would expect, I approached the role with the utmost solemnity and respect.


So after they got married, we left the fancy hotel and began exploring Yosemite National Park in earnest. Turns out it's a horrible nightmare of a death trap. Who knew?

At roughly the same time the above photos were being taken a hiker named Manoj Kumar was climbing half dome, Yosemite's most famous hike. It's a 17-mile trail that eventually leads you to the top of a cool dome mountain thing. On the last part of the hike you actually use these crazy cable ladder things to climb the dome.


It was on that section that poor Manoj Kumar lost his grip and tumbled off the side of half-dome, plummeting to his death. So, at around the same time Cory and Erica were getting hitched, a man was dying. That was only the first death to occur while we were in the park.

On Sunday I enjoyed a rousing game of golf, which I had never played before. Turns out I REALLY suck at it. We got through three and a half holes (roughly) in about 3 hours, then we had to stop because the course was closing. Sunday night we had an overpriced but delicious dinner and everyone turned in early.

Monday morning found us at a new campground, this one was a bunch of pre-made canvas tents on concrete foundation bunched up like a weird little village. Everyone talked about how rustic it was, but being from Alaska I referred to it as luxury camping and got weird looks. I mean, the tents had kitchenettes and dining areas attached, and I was able to plug in my iPhone. There was a grocery store in the campground. I tried to explain to all the state-siders that this wasn't real camping, but they couldn't hear me.

We did spot the following poster:


You probably can't read it, but it says that 23 year-old Christopher Alan Hale is missing, and was last seen running NAKED through Upper Pines campground at 9:30 AM Sunday morning. (Yes, the word 'naked' was capitalized on the poster). We all had a good laugh and went on a nice hike. I have a ton of pictures of that, too, but I've already posted so many that I'm going to skip them. Except this one:


We didn't go all the way to Half-Dome, we went on a 5-6 hour hike up to Nevada falls. I was pleased to find that I was still in pretty good shape from all the swimming, and was able to handle the hike pretty well.

We got back to our campsite, Erica (the bride) made up a bunch of different types of sausage and we had a sausage fest. I ate so many sausages, it was completely out of control. Erica's dad busted out his guitar and played some campfire music.

Then this ranger showed up and started telling us about bears, and how dangerous they are. Like, if you leave food in your car, the bear will tear your car apart. Or if you have some food in your campsite, and you turn your back for like five seconds, the bear will steal all your food. Or if you go to sleep with food near you, even if it's just a grape or something, the bear will come eat off all your skin while you're sleeping. Okay, he didn't say that last one, but that was the general tone of his warnings. You see, the bears in Yosemite are all insane. Up in Alaska, we have sane bears that stay away from people. You never see them. Yosemite bears have been getting their food from tourists for generations, so they're hardly even bears anymore. More like thieving beggars, or muggers. It's really weird.

We also asked the scare-tactic-using ranger about the naked guy. They had found him, and the ranger told us he died of hypothermia. Turned out the ranger was an idiot, and he too had fallen off half dome. The ranger also gave us a amateurish mental health diagnosis which may or may not have been accurate, although there had to be something going on upstairs for the guy to run off naked like that. Apparently the guy's friends had neglected to inform the rangers for a full day after he disappeared. The whole thing completely ruined the humor of the poster and bummed us all out something fierce. Here's a lesson, everyone: if your friend does something insane, tell someone before they die.

I was in Yosemite park for 5 days. Two people died in that time period. It's overcrowded, dangerous, and full of insane bears. It's worth driving through for the views, but stopping is just too dangerous. Stay away. Don't say you weren't warned.

Apartment Hunting in Los Angeles

I got a GREAT story for ya this week! As you've probably noticed, I've given up almost completely on posting on Sundays. Maybe Wednesday will be my new day. Maybe I'll make it back to Sunday. We'll see. Anyway, here goes...

I've been really busy lately, and not sleeping well, and it's gotten to the point that I really need my own apartment. I found a likely-sounding ad on craigslist...$545/month to live with 'the two nicest guys in LA', Andy and Brice. I e-mailed them and got a reply from Andy. He assured me that Juney would be welcome at their place and that it was a wonderful apartment, and I scheduled a time to go over and check it out.

Andy and Brice's place was in Hollywood, which is where I'm doing most of my crashing these days. My hope is to find a place somewhere in this general area. Hollywood places are really expensive, so if I could get into a dog-friendly place for only $545 a month it would be almost perfect. I decided to walk over there because I had a really good parking spot. LA parking is a blog unto itself, maybe I'll cover that next week.

As I approached the address, I grew increasingly impressed with the area. It was quiet, seemed fairly nice, and there were some promising-looking restaurants in the general vicinity. I arrived at the building and Andy came out to meet me.

Andy initially seemed a little weird to me...there was a sort of nervous quality about him, and he seemed a little too nice. He also turned out to be Hungarian, so I chalked it up to cultural differences. We went inside.

The apartment turned out to be a 1-bedroom place. Andy and Brice had beds in the living room and the bedroom was for rent. Brice approached me, he also had an accent I couldn't readily identify. I got the same weird vibe from Brice...a little too nice, and kind of nervous. After a hasty introduction, they ushered me into the bedroom.

There was a dude in there! An angry-looking young man sitting at a desk with headphones and a laptop. He looked up as we entered, not saying much. Andy and Brice assured me that he would be moving out the next day. He had decided to move out at very short notice, leaving them needing to fill the room as soon as possible. The room itself was actually pretty nice for $545 a month; lots of space, etc. The big downside was that the only closet space and bathroom was in the bedroom, which basically meant that if I lived there my room would be a public area.

We went back out to the living room, and Andy and Brice ran through a laundry-list of reasons that this was the most wonderful apartment in Hollywood. Then they began asking me if I thought I might like to move in. Now, usually in situations like this there's a sort of mutual hesitancy on the part of the apartment tenants and the prospective owner; it's a kind of a weird situation to decide whether or not to live with someone after meeting them once. These guys didn't seem too worried though. They were even a little pushy.

I was definitely getting weird vibes from Andy and Brice, but I was still kind of tempted by the cheapness and good location of the apartment. Maybe I could hang up a curtain or something...
I was still suspicious about the situation with the current inhabitant of that bedroom, though. Andy and Brice had told me he was leaving to go back to France (evidently he was French) because he couldn't find a good job.

I told them I wanted to see the room again, and went over to knock on the door. Andy informed me that I didn't need to knock, I could just walk in. I did, and the French guy looked up at me. I smiled and told him I wanted to check out the room some more, and proceeded to do so. Clean bathroom, 3 desks, the bed was a little too soft.

The French guy asked me what I did, and I told him, and we started chatting. He started telling me about his job as an audio engineer or whatever, and I offered my condolences that he couldn't find a job in LA. He kind of sighed, looked over towards the living room where Andy and Brice were, and began writing something on a scrap of paper.

"Yeah, basically, I couldn't find a job so I have to go back to France, and basically, that's what happened..."

At this point he held up the piece of paper. He had written on it:

"They stole my computer."

I looked from the paper to his face. His eyes were screaming "STAY AWAY FROM ANDY AND BRICE. THEY ARE NOT THE TWO NICEST GUYS IN LA."

I continued the conversation with the poor guy for a few more seconds, so Andy and Brice wouldn't know he had tipped me off. Then I went back out and played along a little longer, pretending to be interested in the place and walking out with a copy of the lease. About a block away I trashed it, went home, and spent the rest of the night trying to figure out exactly what the heck had gone on in that apartment.



So that's the story. I'm very excited to sleep tonight, because the guy who was subletting my buddy Rudy's roommates' room seems to have moved all his stuff out, but she still doesn't get back for another week or two. That means I get to sleep in a room with a door tonight, on a futon! To me right now that feels like a penthouse suite at the Four Seasons! I'm going to sleep like a King!!!

We went back out to the living room

Crappiest Post Ever

Hey guys, I've got nothing to report this week. There's some chance that I'll eventually have something cool to report, but not now. I've been working constantly. I still live on a cot in my buddy's living room. I miss my dog. I don't sleep very well, because my sleeping bag's too hot and it gets so noisy at about 8 AM that at that point I pretty much have to give up.

Since I've been working so much, I don't really have time to do anything cool. I managed to escape early tonight, so I'm going to a comedy show with my buddy Rudy, just for something to do. There's this stand-up comedian chick in the show that Rudy thinks is really hot, and I'm sort of along for the ride.

Things have been going well for Rudy lately; his stand-ups really taking off it sounds like. Right now he's sitting across from me playing Zuma while we kill time before leaving. Zuma is a really fun flash game that I'm thinking of developing into a movie script. It started as a joke, but the more me and Rudy discussed it the more excited I got about the idea. Here's a link to a website where you can play Zuma for yourself:

CLICK HERE TO PLAY ZUMA

I got a picture of Juney today from my dad. She's getting fat. I gotta get her down her soon so I can take her jogging every day! I'm a little worried that I'm going to have trouble finding enough time to spend with her, but I'll figure that out later. One guy I work with brings his dog to work sometimes, so maybe I can do something like that. I think she may look fatter in the picture than she actually is, because of the way her harness is bunching up the loose skin on her neck and the way she's lying.

Well, I hope you guys got your summers off to a great start! Sounds like a lot of cool stuff's going on, keep me posted.

The Daily Grind

Howdy, folks! Sorry this update is so late. Two days late! It's been a few weeks since I've made the Sunday deadline. I'll have to shape up.

So I've been working and, surprise surprise, it's taking up a lot of my time. I don't think I've talked much about my job here, I know I mentioned it before. Also, this weekend I was house-sitting for my buddy out in Long Beach, and I didn't have an internet connection. I'll try to do better next time. So, I've got three interesting things to report on this week, and I'll report them in reverse-chronological order because they're most interesting that way.

1. SUNDAY- There was an earthquake in Long Beach. I don't recall the Richter numbers, but it wasn't that extreme. The crazy part is that I was in my buddy's condo which is on the 17th floor of his building. After the earthquake passed, I could feel the whole building swaying back and forth. Weeeeiiiiirrd.

2. SATURDAY- I had an audition scheduled with the Long Beach Shakespeare Company. I had to prepare a 1=minute performance piece for children. I was having trouble finding anything and was on the verge of not going when I had a flash of inspiration; I would just do "Jabberwocky" a la Eli Garvey. I already had it 90% memorized and it was a very fitting piece. Well, not only did the guy like my resume, he expressed that my piece impressed him a lot. He complimented my voice and urged me to come try out for their next Shakespeare play. Pretty cool.

3. FRIDAY- This is definitely the coolest thing that happened. My new boss at the DVD place tasked me with PAing on a recording session for a DVD commentary. PAs are Production Assistants, and they basically help set stuff up, carry stuff around, etc. The commentary was for a few episodes of "Sons Of Anarchy", an FX show about a biker gang.
I went out to the address I was given, not realizing that I was going to the studios where they shoot the show. I parked at this crew lot and a shuttle took me over to the set. I was driven past the show's main set, which is the garage where all the bikers hang out. Then back into the building where the production studios were. I got to peek into the writers' room, where all these writers were sitting around discussing what was going to happen in the show. The walls were all markerboards with plotlines and stuff on them. It basically looked like the funnest job ever.
The sound guy, Greg, had me set up the mics and headsets for all the cast members recording the commentary. This was no mean feat, because there were 10 guys on the first commentary; the show's creator Kurt Sutter and all the show's main biker gang characters. We were setting up for 2-3 hours, minus a quick coffee break. My boss and I wanted coffee so we went to the craft services table. They had a pot of turkish coffee, which you drink shots of. It's got some crazy Turkish spices in it and its really strong. Also, they had a snack room that was just out of control. There was a whole wall of snacks. Like, imagine if you took the snack aisle of a convenience store and put it into bookcases, that's what it was like.
The cast showed up, and at that point most of them had already been shooting all day. A couple of them were still in costume, and they all looked really tired. I recognized a couple of the actors from various TV shows and stuff. The most famous guy in the room was Ron Perlman, who played Hellboy.
Watching them record the commentary was really cool. I mean, I listen to those things all the time, so it was really neat to see one being recorded. We did two, the second one had far fewer people. At the end of the day the sound guy told me I was invaluable, which was awesome. The whole experience was enchanting. I wanted to just hide somewhere in the production offices and just stay there.

How I Didn't Get a Job at Universal Studios

So, it's been an eventful week for me down here in LA! First and foremost, there's the release of the new Star Trek movie! What an exciting time to be alive. I think the movie got a little over-hyped for me. It was really good, but I was still disappointed. That's just me, though. I'm too picky to enjoy anything. Go see it, you'll have a good time.

Second, I got a job! I work for DVD Group, a company that produces DVDs for film and television. I'm an assistant editor, which means that I do grunt work. I won't go into a bunch of boring technical details, but basically what I do is go through other people's edited sequences and make lists of the shots they used. To give you an idea of what kind of an undertaking this is, I'm currently working on a 19 minute featurette about that new Fox show "Fringe." I worked on it for eight hours today, and got through fourteen minutes of the sequence. Still, there's worse ways to make a buck! Hopefully I'll be able to sock away a little dough, because I really miss Juniper a lot and I can't wait to get her down here.

Third, I applied for a position as a tour guide at Universal Studios theme park. It's an awesome place, and it would be an amazingly fun job to have. I didn't get it, I didn't even get called back for the interview. I think I know why.

So I get to the park at about 2:30 PM last Thursday. A helpful security guy directs me to the Jurassic Park garage (all their parking garages are movie-themed). The garage was called...you guessed it...Jurassic Parking!!! I parked Nellie in there and made my way down City Walk to the VIP lounge, which is where the job interview was being held.

City walk is a ridiculously gaudy high-end open-air shopping area. Imagine if a super-rich society made a theme park devoted to malls, and you get City Walk. It's really a very cool place to hang out. I went in a candy story called "It'sugar" (stupid name) and bought a bunch of high-end gummy bears. They had a nine-foot tall statue of Marilyn Monroe made entirely out of jelly beans in there.

So I get closer to the main park gates, and there's this huge line of people. Sure enough, they were all there to apply for the tour guide gig. I'm talking hundreds of people. I had worn my nice jeans and a button-up shirt, but now I had to stand outside in the hot LA sun and sweat up my good clothes. Oh well.

Pretty soon, a hot wannabe actress in a cast got in line behind me. I started chatting her up, and things were going okay. She seemed a little cold, but attractive women in LA are often that way 'cause so many of the guys are evil. She also seemed a little self-absorbed, but whatever. Anyway, I feel like I was starting to make a little headway when this Universal employee came up and snatched her out of the line because she had the cast on. So she got to skip about 2 hours' worth of line and I had to stay there in the sun without an attractive woman to talk to. Ah, well. C'est la vie.

As we neared the VIP lounge, people started getting really catty. A lot of smack was talked about the cast-wearing actress because she had gotten to leave the line. A lot of smack was talked about Universal Studios. A lot of smack was talked about a lot of things. I didn't understand it. Everyone here is really jealous. I guess competing against hundreds of people for crappy jobs does that to you.

So we get into the VIP lounge and we thought we were done, but they basically gave us water and sent us out into another line. Eventually we neared the room that would be our ultimate destination. As I got close a Universal employee told us how the job interview/audition would go down.

In the room were four tables, and each table had a person in fancy clothes sitting at it. Four applicants would enter the room, sit at a table, and talk to the fancily-dressed person for 1 minute and 30 seconds. After the time was up, a Universal Employee would ring a small bell and those four would get up and leave, and the next four would go in.

So I finally get my turn. I sit down across from a woman named Rachel and start explaining to her that I have some basic performance experience, I worked in visitor information for a long time, I used to write movie reviews when I was a kid. She seemed surprised, so I was all "It gets a whole lot crazier!"

As most of you have probably heard, I was a guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno when I was 13. It was because of the movie reviewing gig I had when I was a kid. It's not something I like to talk about a lot, but it's on my resume, if you get my drift. So anyway, I was about to start telling Rachel about how I went on the Tonight Show when I was a kid, but I really don't like talking about it, so I got all tounge-tied and started stammering. I was trying to figure out how to broach the topic when the bell rang. I just muttered "Aw, it's in the resume", then I got up and left.

As I walked out, I thought about what would happen next. Rachel would probably page through the resume until she found the item about movie reviewing. Then she'd look further down the page and see that I claimed to have been a Tonight Show guest at age 13. And what do you suppose she would think about that? In a place where hundreds of people show up for a tour guide job, each of them desperate to stand out from the crowd? If I were her, I'd think it was a filthy stinking lie. My stammering and getting cut off by the bell would look like a carefully-crafted bid to get her attention. I mean, if you think about it, the idea of some guy from Alaska going on the Tonight Show at age 13 is totally absurd.

So, I didn't get called back. I'm thinking I'll probably take the Tonight Show appearance off the ol' resume.

Paul's Top 5 Coolest Things About LA

Hey Gang!

First of all, mad props to everyone who made "Mixed Nuts" happen. I hear it was awesome, can't wait to see the tape.

Second, my celeb sighting log is up to 3! I saw Judd Apatow at an advance screening of his new movie that I'm not allowed to talk about, and on Saturday night I spotted Anna Faris at a Mexican restaurant/bar type place. I was talking to Marla on the phone the other day, and she came up with a great analogy; celebrities are basically like moose. You see them semi-regularly, you always look, but it's not really a big deal unless you're from somewhere where there are no moose. Also, much like moose, it's generally frowned-upon to go up and start messing with celebrities.

So this week I'm going to tell you my 5 favorite things about Los Angeles:

5. Ridiculous Clothes
When I was 8, I had this really cool tunic-style robe that I wore around the house. I'm not sure where it even came from, but it sort of reminded me of a medieval garment and I really liked it. One day I decided to wear it to school. That basically seems to be the type of outfit-planning that people in LA use. It's so fun walking through Hollywood, because wherever you go you see people wearing things that make you laugh out loud. I'm working on a good way to surreptitiously photograph these people, so hopefully in the future I'll be able to provide you guys with some visuals.

4. The World-Famous KROQ
Some of you may be aware that I regularly listen to a radio show called Loveline. It's a nationally syndicated advice show. Well, it's recorded here in LA and its home station is KROQ, a local rock station. In addition to hearing Loveline's live broadcast for the first time in years, I've been listening to a lot of KROQ and it's an amazing station. Except for the occasional foray into Nickel Park and Linkinback or whatever the kids are listening to these days, it pretty much always plays stuff I like. It's not all rock, either; every now and then they'll drop some reggae or hip-hop. I listen to KROQ pretty much on a regular.

3. Movie Obsession
I have a movie obsession, so it's kind of gratifying to live in a town that shares it. Everyone I pass on the street is talking about a movie, there's movie-themed stuff everywhere, movie posters all over the place. It's an exciting place to be if you like movies.

2. In-N-Out
Basically, In-N-Out burger is gourmet fast food. They are noted for providing healthy ingredients and doing business ethically. They also have a secret menu that isn't posted, but there's a bunch of stuff you can order if you know what to say. They're cheap, and it's sooooo good. It's unbelievable. I've been eating a great deal of this stuff.

1. The Arclight
Greatest. Movie theater. Ever. It's a luxury theater. Tickets are a little pricier, but it's worth it. First of all, you get to select your seat when you buy a ticket. Then you go in and everything padded and velvety and blue. There's a bunch of digital projection going on, and amazing sound, the works. It's awesome. Honorable mention also goes to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, which is so crazy I won't even begin to describe it here.

Repercussions

Hey gang! Sorry this post is a day late, I was on-set for 16 HOURS yesterday. 8:30 AM to, like, one in the morning or something. The movie I was working on was called "Repercussions", and this blog is to tell you a little bit about the experience.

I found the gig on craigslist. If you ever go to the LA craigslist and start looking in the jobs section, you'll notice that everyone's making a movie and wants people to work on it for no money. Unfortunately, most of these people are idiots or liars or both. Michael came across as a pretty smart guy in his ad, plus he said he was shooting Yakuza gun battles, so I decided to apply for a PA job. PA stands for Production Assistant, and it's pretty much the lowest job on the set. PA's the guy you send for coffee or whatever. Fortunately, Michael realized I was a sharp cookie and gave me the job of 1st Assistant Director, which is a much more important-sounding title.

I was there for three shoots. There's a few more things to be shot, but it's all fairly simple stuff of the main character driving around feeling conflicted and standing in some scenic spot feeling conflicted, also his wife getting killed. All of the pictures on this blog are from day 1, which was last Sunday. We were in a small office in El Monte shooting a scene where the main character is in the office of his import-export business with his partner and also a scary Yakuza guy who he's sort of friends with shows up. Pictured below, left to right, are the main character, the business partner, and the scary Yakuza guy.





Day two was a game of cat-and-mouse in a parking garage, and yesterday we shot in a much larger, cooler office which belonged to the Yakuza boss. My job as 1st Assistant Director was to help plan the day, make sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing, and make sure things keep moving forward. So basically, it was about 1/5 of what I'm used to doing as a director on Pier 1 shows.

So it was a pretty cool experience. I met some really cool people and learned the following things:

-In the film industry, extension cords are called stingers. I have no idea why, but everyone calls them that.

-I'm very well-prepared for directing an independent movie in LA. I kind of assumed there would be this huge wake-up call about how much I didn't know and I would be all confused, but it turns out the only real difference between this and what I'm used to is that the equipment is more complicated. One thing I've learned from theatre is that you don't need to understand complicated equipment to be able to direct. So it's game on! I've got two shorts and a feature I want to do, now I just need to find some way to get some money.

Orange Thieves

Hey everyone! I am now satisfied that people are reading this, and will no longer post entreaties for comments or say that anybody can suck eggs. It's so nice to get those comments, though. In the past week I've suffered a few minor pangs of homesickness, and of course I miss Juney terribly. Also, my morale took a huge blow when I figured out how much money I owed the IRS and realized that things are not going to be easy for me at all for the next year or so. This passed, however, and I remain undaunted. I have a few different projects brewing, hopefully I'll eventually be able to talk myself into a paying gig. I think I'm going to embrace horrible poverty for a while so I'll have some time to develop some stuff.

So this week, I'd like to tell you about my new favorite hobby. I would like to preface this by saying that I do not approve of stealing in most instances, and that none of you should ever steal, because it is illegal and wrong.

That doesn't stop me though! You see, my friend Rudy who I've been staying with lives in a small house at the base of the Hollywood Hills. We don't have to walk very far at all before we get up into the rich neighborhoods where it's all winding streets, interesting landscaping, and amazingly cool houses. At first, Rudy and I took to walking around up there to enjoy the quiet and gaze jealously at the homes of the rich. It began innocently enough.

Then, the other night, after I had completed my taxes and was feeling downtrodden, Rudy and I went for our customary jaunt into the hills and stumbled across a house that had an orange tree in its yard. There was no fence, plenty of low-hanging oranges, and the street was very dark. On a lark, Rudy grabbed an orange off the tree. We were going to eat it, but it was split open so we rolled it down the hill instead.

Once we got to the bottom of the hill, I found the orange and picked it up again. Out of curiosity, we tore it in half and observed that part of the orange appeared to be in pristine condition. Rudy sampled its juices, and looked up at me with feverish light in his eyes. "It's soooo good!" he proclaimed.

I tried it too, and it was, indeed, amazing. We stood in the middle of the street in a pool of light, digging the sweet pulp out of the rind with our teeth and laughing like hyenas. We emerged from the hills changed men. It was the best orange we'd ever eaten; organic and fresh off the tree. Who were these ungrateful bourgeois that kept such delicious fruit on the property? Why did they not pick the tree clean as soon as the fruit ripened? How could they leave the oranges hanging on the tree for so long that they burst open with ripeness? Here was a wrong that must be righted.

Two nights later, we once more ventured forth into the hills. This time we walked a wider path and kept our eyes open for citrus trees. There were plenty more orange trees, and some lemons as well. Many were behind fences, some were easily accessible. We returned home with a single orange and an unripe lemon, and hatched a plan.

Over the next few weeks, we'll make a complete catalogue of all of the yards that have orange trees, and implement a systematic plan that will allow us to pilfer a few oranges here and there. The rich people aren't even eating them! Once we've charted the whereabouts of this ambrosia and learned the movements of the Bel-Air Patrol, who watches the neighborhood, we will be able to ensure that we never lack for free, delicious citrus fruit. I am confident that these purloined delicacies, and the cathartic act of stealing them from the super-rich, will go a long way towards seeing me through the dark times that are ahead.

I would like to reiterate that stealing is not okay, unless you are stealing oranges from rich people who never eat them anyway.

A Week of Firsts; Reality Intrudes

Hey, Ruby and Leeza! How are you guys doing? You may be the only two people reading this blog, and you know what? That's enough for me! You guys were pretty much my two favorite Homer kids anyway, so everyone else can go suck eggs.

So, I've now been in Los Angeles for over a week, and I've been looking around for work. It's pretty much like everyone said it would be; almost impossible to get work if you don't already have a track record doing the job HERE, or a buddy who can hook you up. So I've decided that I'm going to need to make my own luck here, and find some way to pay the bills in the meantime. I'll let ya know how that goes.

So anyway, I've got a few firsts to report on from the past week;

FIRST PROJECT
I found this guy on craigslist named Michael Shu. He's making a short involving a Yakuza gun battle, which I'm going to be working on as a Production Assistant. That basically means I'll be standing around holding a boom or whatever, but it'll be a good opportunity to get a look at how things run on a properly organzied shoot. Also, Shu seems like a really cool guy and I can probably learn a lot from him, as he specializes in the areas of filmmaking I don't know as much about. You can check out the trailer for his award-winning short "War of the Wolves" at this link:
CLICK HERE FOR "WAR OF THE WOLVES" TRAILER!!!!

FIRST PERSONALITY CHANGE
I'm starting to realize that everyone here has a lot of bravado, so I'm thinking I may need to become a little cocky. I guess you guys are used to that, though. Ha ha! Here's an example: I've been wearing this year's DDF shirt around, and I've gotten some complements on it. At first I was all "Oh, yeah, one of the students on the DDF team I coached designed it, it's really neat, huh?" and the lady smiled patronizingly at me and said something like "isn't that nice." So the next time I got a complement on it I loftily informed the person complementing me that it was a "Kelsey Waldorf original" and the person just sort of nodded.

FIRST HOLLYWOOD CELEB SIGHTING
I was at this old-school Hollywood bar called "The Dresden Room" with some friends and we saw Adrian Grenier from "Entourage". I was excited that my first celebrity sighting was a celebrity who plays a bigger celebrity on TV, and he was there with his real-life entourage instead of his pretend Entourage from the show. It was all wonderfully recursive. The best part; Adrian Grenier called my buddy Rudy a dork. I wasn't at the table at the time, but apparently he identified Rudy as a dork then claimed that he was the "OD", or Original Dork. This resulted in several members of our party discussing what a jerk he was for the rest of the night, but it just seemed to me like a doofy, half-drunk guy blabbing at a bar and getting judged way too harshly for it since he was a TV actor. But whatever.


Well, that's all for this week. I'll get that virtual drive up eventually, but I can't promise it'll be soon. I'm having a really good time, I had forgotten what it was like to live in a place where I had friends. I mean, you guys were all my friends, but not the call-up-and-hang-out-whenever type of friends, you know? All my best buddies are here, and it's awesome living amongst them!

Los Angeles: Initial Impressions

Hey guys! I know I promised a virtual drive this week, but that project's going to take a little more preparation than I expected, and obviously my time has been pretty much taken up with hanging out with my friends and stuff. So I'll aim to have that thing up next week, and this week I'll just talk about arriving in LA.

I was kind of bummin' when I was on my way up past Grapevine. About an hour and a half out from LA, and I was missing Juney, you guys, my parents, and Alaska in a big way for the first time on the trip. Then, as I started to hit LA, I started to get really, really excited. By the time I was rolling down Sunset on the way to my buddy's place, I had a huge grin plastered across my face. I turned the dial to the world-famous KROQ, LA's big rock station, and they were playing a bunch of '90s hits. Then I got together with three of my best friends in the whole world and was very happy to be here.

The whole trip down, I wasn't sure how I'd react when I finally got to LA. Turned out I got really pumped. There's so much going on here and the whole city's like a giant theme park. I stopped by a gas station earlier today and it was decorated more elaborately than any building in Anchorage that I can think of offhand. A gas station.

Me and my friends went and saw "I Love You, Man" today. It was awesome. Anyway, we saw it at the Grove, which is some kind of outdoor mall with a big farmer's market and a crazy food court, I haven't figured out exactly what the deal is. Anyway, there was a scene in the movie that took place right outside the movie theatre. Like, if I had stepped outside, I would've been standing right in one of the shots. It was awesome. When you see the movie, look for the scene where Peter asks Sydney to be his best man, and they hug by the fountain. That's where I saw it.

So, bottom line: LA's really cool so far.

By the way, is anyone reading this?

Two Brief Seattle Anecdotes

Hey everyone! As I write this, I'm in Seattle. We're at the apartment of some friend of my sister's who is out of town. While she's out of town, my sister gets to use her car and her internet connection. My sister is watching "Sydney White" and impatiently waiting for me to wrap this up, so I have to make this a pretty quick entry this week. I'm going to share a HILARIOUS anecdote.

Last night, me and sis went to a restaurant called Charlie's for some late-night grub. I got a cajun burger, which was delicious! The salad was pretty awesome too, it had cabbage and celery and all kinds of stuff in it. I had just seen "Monsters Vs. Aliens" at the iMax in 3D. The movie kind of sucked, but the viewing experience was awesome.
Anyway, towards the end of the meal my sister said something annoying and I happened to have my iPhone out, so I activated the lightsaber app and whacked her with it a few times. Everyone in the place froze and looked over at us. For a second I felt embarassed, then I heard the snap-hiss of another lightsaber igniting. It was the guy at the table next to me! He had one too!
We waved our sabers around a little bit and jokingly fought a little bit, then we heard a third lightsaber! A guy on the the other side of the restaurant had gotten his out and was waving it at us! We saluted him with our iPhone lightsabers and we all had a good laugh. I've never felt more accepted in my entire life!
My sister groaned in disgust.

As I was typing that, my sister reminded me of another anecdote that I should tell you about. We were at Wal-Mart today buying her friend a TV with our Alaska discount. If you're from Alaska, you just flash your ID when you buy stuff in Washington and you don't have to pay sales tax. It's a pretty sweet deal if you're buying a $500 TV. Anyway, while homeboy was picking out a TV I wondered over to check out some Twilight merch. I'm only a few hours from Forks, and I was thinking of going and taking the Twilight tour. I decided not to.
Anyway, I picked up a box of Twilight "Forbidden Fruit" Sweethearts. You know, like at Valentine's day, those hearts with little sayings on them? I found some Twilight ones. They say stuff like "I heart EC" and "Live 4-Ever" and "Sparkle" and "Forks" and "Lamb". They're pretty awesome. Also, on the box it says "Forbidden Fruit is the sweetest."
So later, Sis and Homeboy were dropping me off in Capitol Hill where I was going to have coffee with this really talented actress I know from college. If any of you saw my movie "SNAP!", it's the redhead from that. Anyway, Capitol Hill is this really hip, upscale, trendy part of Seattle. They were dropping me off and all these really trendy, very hip, very cool Seattle people were milling around outside the coffee shop. Then, after I was almost to the door, my sister leans out of the car and shouts as loud as she can "Hey Paul! You forgot your Twlight Forbidden Fruit Sweethearts!" and waves the box around. The box had this big picture of Edward Cullen and everything. I tried to play it off legit, but it was a little embarassing. All these super-cool trendy people were chuckling to themselves and shaking their heads. Chalk up a point for Sis.
Anyway, I gotta wrap this thing up. That's all for this week! Tune in next week for a virtual drive from Anchorage to Los Angeles!

A Brief Greeting From Pupet

Itinerary Status: CONFIRMED

I'm doin' it, y'all! I was going to hang around Anchorage and try to get a little work, but I don't have the patience for that. The soles of my feet are itchy and only THE ROAD can scratch them.
It's not a moment too soon, because I've been getting soft here in Anchorage. I've been eating sumptuous meals constantly, either cooked by mother or at one of Anchorage's many amazing restaurants. I'm sleeping excessively, playing video games until my eyes bleed, and spending all of my time socializing with friends I haven't seen in a long time. It's like a nightmare! I'm unbearably anxious to get down to Los Angeles so I can begin my life of poverty and toil.
So here's what I'm doing:

Sunday, the 22nd: I leave bright and early in the morning and drive to Haines Junction. This is in Canada, and will probably be like a 12-hour drive or something. It's going to be pretty intense. I've been saving up a lot of Loveline episodes for this part of the journey.

Monday, the 23rd: I'll wake up in Haines Junction and drive back into Alaska, to the town of Haines. I'll probably have a few hours to screw around in Haines, then I get on the ferry at like 8 O'Clock that night. My Jeep gets on the ferry too.

Monday-Friday (23-27): I'M ON A BOAT!

Friday the 27th: Me and my Jeep get off the boat in Bellingham, WA. I'll probably drive to Seattle.

Friday-Sunday (27-29): Chillin in Seattle with my sister. She will have just started her Spring break, so we'll be able to hang out.

After that, it gets a little less exact. From Seattle I'll go to Portland, I've got a few friends there. From Portland I'll go stop off in San Francisco, see some buddies there, then it's on to LA!

I'm very excited about these travel plans. Especially the part where I'm on the boat. By all accounts, the drive to Haines may be a little sketchy, but that's why I bought a Jeep! I have no doubt Nellie will see me through safely.

I have no idea what I'm going to do in LA, so I'm focusing on getting there at this point.


By the way, big ups to everyone who got cast in Marc's play: Abby, Theo, Emerson, Sarah, Casey, Ben, Leeza, and whoever plays that one other part that isn't cast yet.

Also, I wanna give a very special shout-out to my man Brian Strickland, aka Stricky, aka Demetrius, aka General Snippet. This guy is living proof that there is life outside Homer, and I'm glad to see him following the blog.

No, Really, Let's Keep In Touch!

I don't know if I'm naive or oblivious, but I really didn't expect people to react as strongly as they did to my departure from Homer. A lot of people responded with sheer disbelief, when I'd been saying I was going to leave for years, literally. A lot of people started crying when they said goodbye to me, which made me feel very loved. The younger kids were very zen about the whole thing. One common theme is that a lot of people seemed to think they were never going to see or hear from me again. So it is that belief I am addressing in this blog.

First of all, I'm a guy whose best friends in the whole world live hundreds of miles away, with a few exceptions. I'm talking about my boys, you know? BFFs, y'all! I've got one in Homer, a couple in Anchorage, three in LA, one in Chicago, and one in New York. I talk to the ones in LA and New York more frequently than any of them, and they're some of the farthest away. So geography stopped being a factor in my friendships years ago.

Second, we have the internet making it easier than ever to keep in touch with people. Facebook in particular makes it possible to stay in touch with people with literally no effort, and other services like e-mail and THIS BLOG are also available for people wishing to stay in touch.

Third, there is a larger world and Homer is part of it, which is something that Homerrhoids tend to lose sight of sometimes. If you keep alert, there will be opportunities to get together over the years. I'll come back to Homer to visit, you may be stopping at LAX on your way to visit a college, or we'll both be in Poughkeepsie for a rubber chicken festival. You just never know.

So, if you're one of those people who feels sad because you'll never see me again, it just ain't so! Stay tuned to this blog, I'm going to try to update it every Sunday to keep you posted on my adventures. Leave me comments. Hit me up on facebook or e-mail me. I'm still here!!!